Jason Chaffetz thinks federal lawmakers need a massive monthly stipend added to their $174,000 annual salary in order to cover housing. Unsurprisingly, he’s making this call just days before he exits Congress.
The timing is no accident. Politicians tend to speak with more honesty when they’re lame ducks — and they honestly believe that they deserve more money.
Part of the desire for more cash is ego, but part of it makes a bit of sense. Being a member of Congress is expensive, considering that members are expected to live in the state the represent while they work in Washington D.C. This requires either two mortgages or a rental or two just to work. It’s not uncommon to hear about many representatives sleeping in their offices to avoid the added expense their job requires.
But that doesn’t alleviate the fact that Americans are in no mood to hear them ask for more money when they already make so much — particularly while their approval ratings are so low and so many Americans are trying desperately to find good paying work.
Jason Chaffetz is on the way out, though, so he doesn’t mind the optics.
See how much more money he thinks his fellow lawmakers need on the next page:
Ha ha
You make enough money for not doing your jobs. NO more
We already do
Exactly. If the average person accomplished so little or worked so few days they would be out of a job in a heartbeat
And we would most likely accomplish something.
He was a lot of talk especially about Hillary but he did nothing
NO WAY!!! THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING OUT TO HELP THE PEOPLE?? WE PAY (IN KNOWN AND UNKNOWN WAYS) UNBELIEVABLY TOO MUCH FOR THEM USING US RATHER THAN FIGHTING FOR US!
HELL NO!!…..CONGRESS IS A DISGRACEFUL!!!…I WON’T EVEN BUY ALL OF THEM A COFFEE, LET ALONE A HOME!!!!!!
Most Congressmen are wealthy in their own right and they all leave DC as millionaires, Chaffetz is wrong on this
Jason you need to have to survive on about forty THOUSAND a year and see how that feels.